xylenehttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/10601/all
enShale Oil Drillers Deliberately Wasted Nearly $1 Billion in Gas, Harming Climatehttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/09/04/two-new-reports-show-shale-oil-drillers-deliberately-wasted-nearly-1-billion-gas-harming-climate
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_182434433.jpg?itok=MDs9Bx7P" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In Texas and North Dakota, where an oil rush triggered by the development of new fracking methods has taken many towns by storm, drillers have run into a major problem.</p>
<p>While their shale wells extract valuable oil, natural gas also rises from the wells alongside that oil. That gas could be sold for use for electrical power plants or to heat homes, but it is harder to transport from the well to customers than oil. Oil can be shipped via truck, rail or pipe, but the only practical way to ship gas is by pipeline, and new pipelines are expensive, often costing more to construct than the gas itself can be sold for.</p>
<p>So, instead of losing money on pipeline construction, many shale oil drillers have decided to simply burn the gas from their wells off, a process known in the industry as “flaring.”</p>
<p>It's a process so wasteful that it's sparked <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/business/energy-environment/oil-companies-are-sued-over-natural-gas-flaring-in-north-dakota.html?_r=0">class action lawsuits</a> from landowners, who say they've lost millions of dollars worth of gas due to flaring. Some of the air emissions from flared wells can also be toxic or carcinogenic. It's also destructive for the climate – natural gas is made primarily of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and when methane burns, it produces more than half as much <span class="caps">CO</span>2 as burning coal.</p>
<p>Much of the research into the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/05/27/all-above-or-action-now-obama-s-natural-gas-dilemma">climate change impact</a> the nation's fracking rush – now over a decade long – has focused on methane leaks from shale gas wells, where drillers are deliberately aiming to produce natural gas. The climate change impacts of shale oil drilling have drawn less attention from researchers and regulators alike.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.earthworksaction.org/media/detail/up_in_flames_pr">A new report</a> from Earthworks finds that drillers in North Dakota alone have burned off over $854 million worth of gas at shale oil wells since 2010, generating 1.4 billion pounds of <span class="caps">CO</span>2 in 2013 alone. The 1.4 billion pounds of <span class="caps">CO</span>2 produced by flaring equal the emissions from 1.1 million cars or light trucks – roughly an extra 10 cars' worth of emissions per year for every man, woman and child living in the state's largest city, Fargo (population 113,000).</p>
<p>Flaring at shale oil wells is now so common that<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/01/16/169511949/a-mysterious-patch-of-light-shows-up-in-the-north-dakota-dark"> satellite images</a> of the largely rural state at night are <a href="http://www.earthworksaction.org/library/detail/up_in_flames">dotted with</a> what appear at first to be major metropolises but are instead the flares burning round-the-clock in the Bakken shale drilling patch.</p>
<p>But while the highly visible flaring in North Dakota has drawn the most media attention, the practice is on the rise in Texas, particularly in the state's Eagle Ford shale.</p>
<p>“The Eagle Ford produces considerably more natural gas than the Bakken,” Earthworks noted. “In June 2014, the Eagle Ford Shale produced seven billion cubic feet per day, while the Bakken produced 1.3 billion cubic feet per day.”</p>
<p>In 2013, nearly a third of the gas in North Dakota's Bakken was flared – but the numbers coming from Texas seem a bit more murky, in part because unlike North Dakota, Texas does not tax flared gas and – according to <a href="http://www.expressnews.com/business/eagleford/item/Up-in-Flames-Day-1-Flares-in-Eagle-Ford-Shale-32626.php">a new four-part investigative report</a> by the region's newspaper – the state has failed to track or control flaring adequately.</p>
<p>The year-long <a href="http://www.expressnews.com/business/eagleford/item/Up-in-Flames-Day-1-Flares-in-Eagle-Ford-Shale-32626.php">investigation</a> by the San Antionio Express-News recently uncovered striking problems with the regulation of flaring in Texas, including:</p>
<ul><li>
Texas law forbids drillers to flare past 10 days without a permit – but out of the twenty wells that had flared the most gas in the state, the paper discovered that 7 had never obtained required permits. State law calls for fines of up to $10,000 a day for flaring violations, but regulators have issued a total of less than $132,000 in fines in the Eagle Ford since the boom began, despite over 150 “possible flaring or venting violations” found by state inspectors in the region between 2010 and 2012.</li>
<li>
Statewide, 33 billion cubic feet of natural gas were flared or vented in 2012 – a 400 percent rise from 2009, when the shale oil rush arrived. The Eagle Ford was responsible for two thirds of the state's wasted gas in 2012, totaling 21 billion feet for the year. Eagle Ford drillers burned off gas at ten times the combined rate of drillers in the state's other oil fields.</li>
<li>
That much gas produces enormous amounts of airborne pollution. “In the early days of the boom, flaring released 427 tons of air pollution each year. By 2012, pollution levels shot up to 15,453 tons, a 3,500 percent increase that exceeds the total emissions of all six oil refineries in Corpus Christi,” the paper wrote. “Moreover, flaring and other oil industry activity in the Eagle Ford released more ozone-creating pollution in the summer of 2012 than two dozen Texas oil refineries.”</li>
<li>
Despite concerns over how these emissions can affect human health, the state operates just seven air monitoring stations in the region. It can take regulators up to 10 days to arrive to take samples when citizens complain about potentially hazardous fumes.</li>
<li>
Texas's environmental agency, the Railroad Commission, is run by a 3-member panel of elected officials. “The three Railroad Commissioners have raised $11 million from campaign donors since 2010,” the paper found. “At least half that money came from employees, lobbyists and lawyers connected to the oil and gas industry, according to campaign finance records.”</li>
</ul>
<p>Flaring has angered environmentalists, landowners and even many in the oil and gas industry itself.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>The Railroad Commission is statutorily required ‘to prevent waste of Texas’s natural resources’,” <a href="http://www.earthworksaction.org/media/detail/up_in_flames_pr">said</a> Earthworks Texas organizer Sharon Wilson. “I don’t see how the Railroad Commission isn’t breaking the law by allowing drillers to waste natural gas by flaring it off rather than capturing it.”</p>
<p>“Nobody hates flaring more than the oil operator and the royalty owners,” Ron Ness of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, an industry trade group, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/us-bakken-flaring-idUSBRE96S05320130729">told Reuters</a> last year. “We all understand that the flaring is an economic waste.”</p>
<p>But the problem is projected to get worse not better. An environmental report from the Alamo Area Council of Governments predicted that by 2018, emissions of volatile organic compounds – which the <span class="caps">EPA</span> <a href="http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html">warns</a> can have “short- and long-term adverse health effects” – could quadruple in the Eagle Ford.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the <span class="caps">EPA</span> has decided to consider air emissions from each shale well, pipeline compressor or other piece of equipment individually when deciding whether there's enough pollution for federal regulators to get involved – meaning that even though the Eagle Ford's wells collectively pollute more than multiple oil refineries, the flaring escapes federal oversight.</p>
<p>New federal regulations, aimed at cutting down on the release of climate-changing carbon dioxide and methane from the wells and scheduled to go into effect in 2015, will require many drillers to use a process called a “green completion,” rather than flaring the gas or venting it to the atmosphere as raw unburned methane. Green completions can help reduce leaks by up to 99 percent, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/10/14/flaws-university-texas-methane-study-draw-criticism-scientists">according to a study</a> by the Environmental Defense Fund that has was heavily touted by the drilling industry and its advocates.</p>
<p>But those requirements only apply to wells whose purpose is to produce natural gas, not oil. This means the regulations will have little impact on shale wells in Texas's Eagle Ford, the Express-News pointed out.</p>
<p>More than 1 million Texans live near the Eagle Ford, some of whom say they have suffered a litany of health effects that they suspect are tied to flaring.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>We went from nice, easy country living to living in a Petri dish,” Mike Cerny, who lives within a mile of 17 oil wells, <a href="http://eagleford.publicintegrity.org/">told</a> the Center for Public Integrity. “This crap is killing me and my family.”</p>
<p>There's a simple way to spot a poorly-performing flare. “If you see a smoking flare that's not complete combustion,” Neil Carman, a former state scientist who now works with the Sierra Club, told the Express-News. “If it's not completed, you get a smorgasbord of chemicals.”</p>
<p>At times, the gas is simply released unburned directly to the atmosphere – a practice labeled “venting” by the industry.</p>
<p>Texas state regulators fail to distinguish between flaring and venting in their public production database, the newspaper pointed out, making it impossible to know precisely how bad the impacts of the pollution might be.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:9px;">Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-182434433/stock-photo-flaring-natural-gas-in-north-dakota.html">Flaring Natural Gas in North Dakota</a>, via Shutterstock</span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8666">flaring</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/917">texas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1088">North Dakota</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8728">Eagle Ford</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8653">Bakken</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6280">Waste</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9546">taxes</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10333">Earthworks</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6152">Sharon Wilson</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1908">carbon dioxide</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1907">methane</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1221">CO2</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11915">greenhouse gasses</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7306">Smog</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14842">volatile organic compounds</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6159">benzene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10600">toluene</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10601">xylene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10599">ethylbenzene</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17864">fracking rush</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16560">shale rush</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6157">Texas Railroad Commission</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17865">SkyTruth</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17866">San Antonio Express-News</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17867">investigative report</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17868">permit</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17869">fines</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11787">violations</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17870">burned off</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17871">fumes</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17872">airborne pollution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6039">air pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1226">clean air act</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14720">tons</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5524">oil refineries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5046">campaign finance</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5391">campaign contributions</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17874">green completion</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4433">Center for Public Integrity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17875">Neil Carman</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/666">Sierra Club</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17876">venting</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11981">database</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/17877">spreadsheet</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11807">documents</a></div></div></div>Thu, 04 Sep 2014 13:00:00 +0000Sharon Kelly8463 at http://www.desmogblog.comPressure Grows on EPA to Regulate Toxic Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Industryhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/05/14/pressure-grows-epa-regulate-toxic-air-pollution-oil-and-gas-industry
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_130350674.jpg?itok=Gam3YMwM" width="200" height="300" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>On Tuesday, 64 environmental groups, representing over 1 million members and supporters, submitted a legal petition to the Environmental Protection Agency, calling on the federal government to more closely regulate toxic air pollution from oil and gas drilling sites.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>Continued, uncontrolled toxic pollution from oil and gas production creates serious health threats in metropolitan areas across the country,” the groups wrote, warning that over 1.04 million oil and gas wells have been drilled in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> and as many as 45,000 new wells are expected annually over the next two decades.</p>
<p><a href="http://earthjustice.org/documents/legal-document/2014-petition-for-federal-limits-on-toxic-air-pollution-from-oil-gas-wells">The petition</a> represents a shot across the bow of the <span class="caps">EPA</span>, as the filing lays the groundwork for lawsuits by environmental groups should the agency fail to act.</p>
<p>The move puts the <span class="caps">EPA</span> on notice that it may be violating federal law by failing to regulate air pollution from oil and gas drilling and fracking sites. “<span class="caps">EPA</span> also has a responsibility under the Clean Air Act to protect people from toxic air emissions nationwide,” the groups wrote, “and under section 112(n)(4)(B) it must do so.”</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>Absolutely this lays the groundwork for possible future litigation,” said Jeremy Nichols, a program director for WildEarth Guardians, one of the signatories to the petiton, “oil and gas wells are one of the most under-regulated sources of toxic air pollution in the U.S., yet these very wells are increasingly being drilled and fracked in communities across the nation.”</p>
<p>The current shale drilling boom has led to a massive spike in the number of people living near drilling, and the lack of federal regulation over the industry has led to complaints from residents across the <span class="caps">US</span> about the impact on their health and the health of their families.</p>
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<p><span class="dquo">“</span>More than 150 million Americans now live near oil and gas wells or above shale areas where companies are looking to drill or engage in hydraulic fracturing, and <span class="caps">EPA</span> needs to set standards that restrict the hazardous air pollutants they put into the air,” <a href="http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/64-environmental-and-community-groups-file-petition-demanding-federal-limits-on-toxic-oil-gas-well-air-pollution">said</a> Earthjustice attorney Emma Cheuse, who filed the petition on behalf of the groups. “Oil and gas wells release chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, and respiratory disease, and <span class="caps">EPA</span> should protect our communities, especially our children, from exposure to these hazards.”</p>
<p>It’s not only rural residents who are impacted by drilling, but also those living in cities and suburbs.<br /><br />
“This oil and gas expansion has brought drilling activities closer to heavily populated areas, including the Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Denver, and Los Angeles metropolitan regions, placing drill rigs near homes, schools and workplaces and posing an ever increasing threat to public health,” the petition says.<br /><br />
“Despite widespread awareness of the rapid expansion in domestic oil and gas production, health concerns about the increased number of wells have not been adequately addressed.”</p>
<p>Last year, the Obama administration’s Department of Energy Advisory Board called for swift action to address the oil and gas industry’s air pollution, including leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas, methane, which has global-warming effects 86 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide in the first two decades after it enters the atmosphere.<br /><br />
“Measures should be taken to reduce emissions of air pollutants, ozone precursors, and methane as quickly as practicable,” the federal advisors <a href="http://www.velaw.com/resources/pub_detail_print.aspx?id=19778">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>But the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s current rules — even taking into account air pollution regulations finalized in 2012 — still fail to prevent over 90 percent of emissions, the petition charges. “Under <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s current regulations for the oil and gas sector (which do not directly regulate toxic pollution coming from oil and gas wells or set necessary protections for people living near them),” it says, “it is estimated that less than 10 percent of the industry’s total hazardous air pollutant emissions will be reduced.”</p>
<p>The petition further charges that <span class="caps">EPA</span> has underestimated the amount of hazardous air pollutants, like benzene and toluene, that are released by the industry nationwide. In 2011, <span class="caps">EPA</span> estimated that roughly 127,000 tons of these dangerous chemicals are released each year, the petition says, while in fact, the actual figure may be more than double that, the groups calculated.</p>
<p>The <span class="caps">EPA</span> has also repeatedly come under fire for underestimating the amount of another emission from the natural gas industry – the greenhouse gas methane.<br /><br />
A major study, published in the prestigious journal <em>Science</em> earlier this year, concluded that the <span class="caps">EPA</span> has <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/02/14/new-study-shows-total-north-american-methane-leaks-far-worse-epa-estimates">understated methane leaks</a> by between 25 and 75 percent, and more recently, measurements over drilling sites in Pennsylvania recorded methane leaks during drilling that were <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/04/16/study-find-marcellus-drilling-methane-leaks-1-000-times-epa-estimates-casting-doubt-bridge-fuel-notion">over 1,000 times</a> the levels <span class="caps">EPA</span> believed would leak during that process.</p>
<p>The toxic air pollutants associated with fracking include deadly chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen sulfide gas, the petition notes. “Nationwide, the key pollutants that contribute most to the overall cancer risks are formaldehyde and benzene,” the <span class="caps">EPA</span> pointed out in a 2005 <a href="http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata2005/05pdf/nata2005_factsheet.pdf">fact sheet</a>.<br /><br />
Hydrogen fluoride, <a href="http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/hydrofluoricacid/basics/facts.asp">the <span class="caps">CDC</span> warns</a>, is a highly corrosive and odorless gas that can be fatal in even small doses, and hydrogen sulfide is so deadly that <a href="https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/hydrogen_sulfide_fact.pdf"><span class="caps">OSHA</span> warns</a> that “[e]ffects can occur within a few breaths, and possibly a single breath.”</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>I’ve witnessed the harm these toxics cause to people and given everything we know about these pollutants, the <span class="caps">EPA</span> must take action to protect communities from exposure to these clear hazards,” said James Dahlgren, <span class="caps">MD</span>, an internist with a sub-specialty in toxicology and member of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, which joined in the filing. “Oil and gas wells release chemicals that have clearly and definitely been linked to health harms from nose bleeds and headaches to cancer, birth defects, and respiratory disease.”</p>
<p>The groups not only called attention to better known sources of these dangerous air emissions, like<a href="http://eagleford.publicintegrity.org/"> compressor stations</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/in-north-dakota-wasted-natural-gas-flickers-against-the-sky.html?pagewanted=all">flaring</a>, and <a href="http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/sources_of_oil_and_gas_air_pollution#VENTING">venting</a> of natural gas wells, but also risks posed by the<a href="http://www.marcellus-shale.us/impoundments.htm"> open pits</a> where state regulators in places like Texas and Pennsylvania allow fracking wastewater to be stored. “As the pits, in particular, are typically open to the air, the volatile chemicals contained in the fluids—such as <span class="caps">BTEX</span> compounds [benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene] and hydrogen sulfide—will inevitably evaporate and escape into the air.”</p>
<p>While the groups are pressing for action within 180 days from <span class="caps">EPA</span>, the law allows the agency to take its time in reviewing the filing. The Obama administration has indicated that it supports an expansion of domestic oil and gas drilling under its all-of-the-above energy policy, so some are worried that the agency may drag its heels. “We will review the petition,” an <span class="caps">EPA</span> spokeswoman <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/05/13/14765/groups-seek-epa-action-toxic-air-emissions-fracking">told the Center for Public Integrity</a> on Tuesday.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span><span class="caps">EPA</span> has an obligation to respond to a petition like this,” added Mr. Nichols, “but there is no clear deadline, so there is concern that they could sit on it.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:9px;">Photo Credit: <em><a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-130350674/stock-photo-burning-oil-gas-flare.html?src=yTkrHB1KAq5yMFmarXvmFw-1-33">Burning Oil Gas Flare</a></em>, via Shutterstock. </span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16414">64 groups</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5201">Earthjustice</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16415">Clean Air Council</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16416">Clean Air Taskforce</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16417">Downwinders at Risk</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3066">environmental defense fund</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7061">Global Community Monitor</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4317">Natural Resources Defense Council</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16418">Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/666">Sierra Club</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16419">WildEarth Guardians</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1471">Environmental Protection Agency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6159">benzene</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10600">toluene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10601">xylene</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16420">ethyl benzene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16421">hazardous air pollutiants</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6351">shale</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16422">drilling rush</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6349">hydrofracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16423">toxic air emissions</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1226">clean air act</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16424">Dallas/Forth Worth</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/pittsburgh">pittsburgh</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16425">Denver</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1343">Los Angeles</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16426">Jeremy Nichols</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4754">President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16427">hydrogen fluoride</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11852">Hydrogen sulfide</a></div></div></div>Thu, 15 May 2014 12:00:00 +0000Sharon Kelly8116 at http://www.desmogblog.comExclusive: Permit Shows Bakken Shale Oil in Casselton Train Explosion Contained High Levels of Volatile Chemicalshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/05/exclusive-permit-shows-bakken-oil-casselton-train-contained-high-levels-volatile-chemicals
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Casselton%20Smoke%20Stack.jpg?itok=R6NuVTr0" width="200" height="267" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>On January 2, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (<span class="caps">PHMSA</span>) <a href="http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/1_2_14%20Rail_Safety_Alert.pdf">issued a major safety alert</a>, d<span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">eclaring oil obtained via</span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> in the </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7174" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Bakken Shale</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> may be more chemically explosive than the agency or industry previously admitted publicly.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">This alert came three days after the </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/12/30/north-dakota-crude-oil-train-derails-cars-explode-residents-warned-stay-inside" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">massive Casselton, <span class="caps">ND</span> explosion of a freight rail train </a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">owned by </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7461" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Warren Buffett</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">'s </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/8243" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Burlington Northern Santa Fe</a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> (<span class="caps">BNSF</span>) and was the first time the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Department of Transportation agency ever made such a statement about Bakken crude. In July 2013, another freight train carrying Bakken crude exploded in </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Lac-Mégantic, vaporizing and killing 47 people.</span></p>
<p>Yet, an exclusive <i>DeSmogBlog</i> investigation reveals the <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-northdakota-derailment-energy-20131231,0,4807285.story">company receiving that oil</a> downstream from <span class="caps">BNSF</span> — Marquis Missouri Terminal <span class="caps">LLC</span>, <a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?3329225">incorporated in April 2012</a> by <a href="http://www.marquisenergy.com/" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em; color: rgb(255, 205, 51);">Marquis Energy</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">— already admitted as much in a </span><a href="http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/apcp/permits/marquis-hayti012cp.pdf" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">September 2012 permit application to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (<span class="caps">DNR</span>)</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p>The <a href="https://tankterminals.com/news_detail.php?id=2286"><span class="caps">BNSF</span> Direct</a> ”<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BombTrains">bomb train</a>” that exploded in Casselton <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-northdakota-derailment-energy-20131231,0,4807285.story">was destined for Marquis' terminal in Hayti, Missouri, according to <em>Reuters</em></a>. Hayti is a city of 2,939 located along the Mississippi River. From there, Marquis barges the oil southward along the Mississippi, where <a href="http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/houston/north-dakota-crude-by-rail-shipments-to-have-21020134"><em>Platts</em> reported the oil may eventually be refined</a> in a <a href="http://www.valero.com/ourbusiness/ourlocations/refineries/pages/memphis.aspx">Memphis, Tennessee-based Valero refinery</a>.</p>
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<p>According to Marquis' website, its Hayti, Missouri terminal <a href="http://www.marquisenergy.com/terminals/logistics.html">receives seven of <span class="caps">BNSF</span> Direct's 118-unit cars per week</a>, with an on-site holding terminal capacity of 550,000 barrels of oil.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.crude-by-rail-destinations-2013.com/9/history/80/series-history/">Marquis was one of many companies</a> in attendance at a major industry conference in Houston, Texas in February 2013, called “<a href="http://www.crude-by-rail-destinations-2013.com/">Upgrading Crude By Rail Capacity</a>.” Its September 2012 Missouri <span class="caps">DNR</span> permit application lends additional insight into how and why <span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><span class="caps">BNSF</span>'s freight train erupted so intensely in Casselton.</span><object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/CxkUhVswF5U?hl=en_US&amp;version=3" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/CxkUhVswF5U?hl=en_US&amp;version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<h3>
“Special Conditions”</h3>
<p>Rather than a normal permit, Marquis was given a “special conditions” permit because the Bakken oil it receives from <span class="caps">BNSF</span> contains high levels of volatile organic compounds (<span class="caps">VOC</span>s), the same threat <span class="caps">PHMSA</span> noted in its recent safety alert.</p>
<p>Among the most crucial of the special conditions: Marquis must flare off the <span class="caps">VOC</span>s before barging the oil down the Mississippi River. (Flaring is already a highly controversial practice in the Bakken Shale region, where <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/investors-no-more-flaring-fracked-oil-and-gas-bakken-shale">gas is flared off at rates comparable to Nigeria</a>.) </p>
<p>It's a tacit admission that the Bakken Shale oil aboard the exploded <span class="caps">BNSF</span> train in Casselton, <span class="caps">ND</span> is prone to such an eruption.</p>
<p>“Hazardous Air Pollutant (<span class="caps">HAP</span>) emissions are expected from the proposed equipment,” <a href="http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/apcp/permits/marquis-hayti012cp.pdf">explains the Marquis permit</a>. “There will be evaporative losses of Toluene, Xylene, Hexane, and Benzene from the crude oil handled by the installation.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/benzene">Benzene is a carcinogen</a>, while <a href="http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/toluene.html">toluene</a>, <a href="http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/xylenes.html">xylene</a> and <a href="http://www.epa.gov/iris/toxreviews/0486tr.pdf">hexane</a> are dangerous volatiles that can cause severe illnesses or even death at high levels of exposure. </p>
<h3>
Scientific Vindication</h3>
<p>In a December 31 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUEieToUeNg"><em>Google Hangout</em> conversation</a> between actor Mark Ruffalo, founder of <a href="http://waterdefense.org/content/about-us"><em>Water Defense,</em></a><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> and the group's</span><a href="http://waterdefense.org/blog/mark-ruffalo-appoints-scott-smith-chief-scientist-water-defense"><em style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </em>chief scientist Scott Smith</a>, Mr. Smith discussed the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Baseline%20Oil%20Sands%20Dilbit%20%26%20Bakken%20Crude.pdf">oil samples he collected on a previous visit to North Dakota's Bakken Shale</a>.</p>
<p>“What I know from the testing I've done on my own — I went out to the Bakken oil fields and pumped oil from the well — I know there are unprecedented levels of these explosive volatiles: benzene, toluene, xylene,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUEieToUeNg">said Smith</a>.</p>
<p>“And from the data that I've gotten from third parties and tested myself, 30 to 40 percent of what's going into those rail cars are explosive volatiles, again that are not in typical oils.”</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-video-blog field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="media-youtube-outer-wrapper" id="media-youtube-1" style="width: 480px; height: 360px;">
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-text-after-video field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><br />
In an interview with <em>DeSmogBlog</em>, Smith said Marquis Energy's Missouri <span class="caps">DNR</span> permit application is in line with his own scientific findings, a vindication of sorts in the aftermath of the Casselton explosion. </p>
<p>“We must work to better understand the risks involved with the transportation of unconventional crude oil, whether diluted bitumen or Bakken fracked oil,” Smith told <em>DeSmogBlog</em>. <br /><br />
“It all starts with scientifically and transparently understanding exactly what is in these crude oils, and working to set new safety standards to protect human lives and all waterways, wetlands, marshes and sensitive ecosystems.”</p>
<p>It may be the dead of winter in North Dakota, but the Casselton explosion has shined a bright light on the myriad serious threats of Bakken oil rolling down the tracks through the backyards of thousands of Americans. The industry's secrecy about the explosiveness of this oil just went up in flames.<br /><br />
But how will the public react to the news that industry knew this could happen all along? With the Dec. 30 explosion in Casselton, and the deadly Bakken oil train explosion in Lac Megantic, Quebec last July, all North Americans ought to question the wisdom of extracting and transporting this highly dangerous oil. </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8px;">Photo Credit: </span><span style="font-size: 8px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="https://twitter.com/kpottermn/status/417794105649795072">Kyle Potter</a> | </span><a href="http://www.inforum.com/" style="font-size: 8px;"><em><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Forum of Fargo-Moorhead</span></em></a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14812">casselton</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14842">volatile organic compounds</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6159">benzene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10600">toluene</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10601">xylene</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14844">hexane</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14841">Valero North Dakota</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7174">Bakken Shale</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14833">Missouri Department of Natural Resources</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9326">Water Defense</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14834">Missouri DNR</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14835">Marquis Energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14836">Marquis Missouri Terminal LLC</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14837">Missouri Department of State</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7421">Mississippi River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14338">barging</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6181">Louisiana</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14838">Hayti Missouri</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7461">Warren Buffett</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9053">BNSF Railway</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14839">BNSF Direct</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7463">Berkshire Hathaway</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8243">Burlington Northern Santa Fe</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14840">Bomb Trains</a></div></div></div>Mon, 06 Jan 2014 05:01:38 +0000Steve Horn7725 at http://www.desmogblog.comFracking Your Future: Shale Gas Industry Targets College Campuses, K-12 Schoolshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/17/fracking-your-future-shale-gas-industry-targets-college-campuses-schools
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_104729948.jpg?itok=moBGB5FB" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In Pennsylvania - a state that sits in the heart of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marcellus_Shale">Marcellus Shale basin</a> - the concept of “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/09/19/frackademia-the-brewing-suny-buffalo-shale-resources-society-institute-storm">frackademia</a>” and “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/12/keystone-xl-contractor-suny-buffalo-shale-institute-conduct-LA-County-fracking-study">frackademics</a>” has taken on an entirely new meaning.</p>
<p>On Sept. 27, the <span class="caps">PA</span> House of Representatives - in a 136-62 vote - <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-27/business/34103652_1_university-presidents-leases-state-universities">passed a bill</a> that allows <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”</a> to take place on the campuses of public universities. Its Senate copycat version passed in June in a 46-3 vote and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2011&amp;sind=0&amp;body=S&amp;type=B&amp;bn=367">signed it into law as Act 147 on Oct. 8</a>.</p>
<p>The bill is colloquially referred to as the <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-27/business/34103652_1_university-presidents-leases-state-universities">Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act</a>. It was <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&amp;sind=0&amp;body=S&amp;type=B&amp;bn=367">sponsored by Republican Sen. Don White</a>, one of the state's top recipients of oil and gas industry funding between 2000-April 2012, pulling in $94,150 during that time frame, according to a <a href="http://marcellusmoney.org/news/2012-07-12-new-report-natural-gas-industry-has-spent-more-23-million-influence-pa-elected-offic">recent report</a> published by <em>Common Cause <span class="caps">PA</span></em> and <em>Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania</em>. Corbett has <a href="http://marcellusmoney.org/candidate/corbett-tom">taken over $1.8 million from the oil and gas industry</a> since his time serving as the state's Attorney General in 2004. </p>
<p>The Corbett Administration has <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/breaking/corbett-swings-budget-ax-at-schools-colleges-211408/">made</a> higher education budget <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2012-02-15/news/31063503_1_president-ann-weaver-hart-higher-education-cuts">cuts</a> totaling over $460 million in the past two consecutive <span class="caps">PA</span> state budgets. The oil and gas industry has <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Corbett-says-gas-drilling----on-campus---could-save-colleges.html">offered fracking as a new fundraising stream</a> at universities starved for cash and looking to fill that massive cash void, as <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-27/business/34103652_1_university-presidents-leases-state-universities">explained by <em>The</em> <em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em></a>:</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>Half of the fees and royalties generated by leases of State System of Higher Education lands would be retained by the university where the resources are located. Thirty-five percent would be allocated to other state universities. The remaining 15 percent would be used for tuition assistance at all 14 schools.</p>
</blockquote>
<div>
Some professors aren't exactly thrilled with this notion. </div>
<div>
</div>
<p>“I've become extremely concerned, disturbed, and disgusted by the environmental consequences of fracking,” a professor at Lock Haven University <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/pennsylvania-fracking-law-opens-drilling-college-campuses">told <em>Mother Jones</em> in a recent article</a>. “They've had explosions, tens of thousands of gallons of chemicals spilled. And we're going to put this on campus?”</p>
<p><em>Mother Jones</em>' Sydney Brownstone also explained that Pennsylvania isn't the only state playing this game, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/pennsylvania-fracking-law-opens-drilling-college-campuses">writing</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A couple of colleges in West Virginia have leased their land to fracking companies, and Ohio has a similar law to Pennsylvania's. The University of Texas also makes money from natural gas well pads on its land, and even installed one 400 feet away from a daycare center at its Arlington campus.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet even these details are merely the tip of the iceberg, as fracking has occured close to K-12 schoolyards for years, with accompanying devastating health consequences.</p>
<h3>
From Campuses to Schoolyards in <span class="caps">TX</span>, <span class="caps">NY</span>, and <span class="caps">CO</span></h3>
<p>As with fracking directly on campus, the gas industry knows no geographical bounds when deciding to extract shale gas close to K-12 schools. Three states serve as case studies.</p>
<p><strong><em>New York</em></strong></p>
<p>Perhaps the most tragic state of affairs can be found in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Roy,_New_York">Le Roy, New York</a>, a city with roughly 7,600 citizens, at Le Roy Middle School and High School. <em><span class="caps">CNN</span> </em><a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2012/02/09/fracking-tourettes/">reported</a> on Le Roy in Feb. 2012:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are six natural gas wells on school grounds…Two of these wells spilled liquid onto the ground killing trees and vegetation right in the area of the wellheads…It's where every day, students play, do sports, practice their sports, right there on school grounds…This is definitely of concern to experts and parents I've been talking to.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By March of that year, there were 18 documented cases of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001744/">Tourette Syndrome</a>, the plot <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/teenage-girls-twitching-le-roy.html?pagewanted=all">serving as the centerpiece for a cover story</a> in an issue of <em>The New York Times Magazine</em>.</p>
<p>Susan Dominus of <em>The Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/teenage-girls-twitching-le-roy.html?pagewanted=all">wrote</a>, “Teachers shut their classroom doors when they heard a din of outbursts, one cry triggering another, sending the increasingly familiar sounds ricocheting through the halls. Within a few months, as the camera crews continued to descend, the community barely seemed to recognize itself.”</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich">Erin Brockovich</a>, the attorney and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich_(film)">movie namesake</a> famous for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich#Pacific_Gas_and_Electric_litigation">winning a class action lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric for over $300 million in the 1990's</a> for contaminating groundwater with hexavalent chromium - a <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hexchrom/">known carcinogen</a> according to the <em>Centers for Disease Control</em> - has <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/erin-brockovich-launches-investigation-tic-illness-affecting-ny/story?id=15456672#.UH9QnmkzseM">decided to take up this case</a>, as well. “We don't have all the answers, but we are suspicious,” <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-26/new-york-school-mystery-disease/52804710/1?csp=34news">she told <em><span class="caps">USA</span> Today</em></a>. “The community asked us to help and this is what we do.”</p>
<p><strong><em>Texas</em></strong></p>
<p>In Feb. 2011, the gas industry made an offer to put several wells <a href="http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Proposal-Keeps-gas-wells-one-mile-from-schools-116447063.html">a few blocks away from a school</a> located in the Fort Worth Independent School District. The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods proceeded with a <a href="http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Proposal-Keeps-gas-wells-one-mile-from-schools-116447063.html">counter-offer of its own</a>, demanding wells stay at least a mile from K-12 schools.</p>
<p>Studies showed “high levels of carbon disulfide found near three <span class="caps">FWISD</span> schools,” explained a <a href="http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/17/harmful-chemical-found-at-drilling-sites-near-3-fwisd-schools/">report by <em><span class="caps">CBS</span> Dallas-Fort Worth</em> in Feb. 2011</a>. “Carbon disulfide is a colorless, volatile liquid linked to respiratory, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems.”</p>
<p>Further, Argyle, <span class="caps">TX</span> has approved 36 fracking wells, all of them <a href="http://www.texassharon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/handout-school-map.jpg">sitting smack dab in the middle</a> of the tiny city's (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyle,_Texas">population 3,282</a>) elementary school, middle school and high school. Drilling rigs sit<a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2011/09/09/eagle-ford-shale-drilling-right-next-to-school/"> right across the street from Cotulla High School</a> in Cotulla, <span class="caps">TX</span> and three sit <a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2009/11/18/drill-rig-erected-behind-selwyn-school-in-denton/">behind the Selwyn School</a> in Denton, <span class="caps">TX</span>, <a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2009/12/04/did-devon-energy-give-selwyn-school-a-new-playground-ride/">right next to a playground</a>.</p>
<p><strong><em>Colorado</em></strong></p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/massey-wv-coal-battle-take-two-erie-co-citizens-fight-fracking">June article</a>, <em>DeSmogBlog</em> described Erie, <span class="caps">CO</span> as a key hub of the anti-fracking battle. EnCana Oil and Gas Corporation, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/massey-wv-coal-battle-take-two-erie-co-citizens-fight-fracking">we explained</a>, plans to frack for shale gas near three local schools and a childcare center in Erie: Red Hawk Elementary, Erie Elementary, Erie Middle School and Exploring Minds Childcare Center.</p>
<p>Erie has welcomed EnCana with open arms.</p>
<p>“This encroachment of residential areas has really woken up a grassroots revolt of regular Coloradans who are standing up and saying don't come in my backyard,” Sam Schabacker, Mountain West Region Director for <em>Food and Water Watch</em> <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/massey-wv-coal-battle-take-two-erie-co-citizens-fight-fracking">told us in an interview back in June</a>. “And that's really what's going on in Erie. This is Exhibit A of how the gas industry has cavelierly expanded into residential areas against the wishes of local governments and regular Coloradans.”</p>
<p>Erie serves as a case study of an epidemic in Colorado. One <a href="http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org/schooldrill/">study conducted by the <em>Western Resources Advocates</em></a> found almost 200 wells within 2,000 feet of a public school.</p>
<p>By contrast, <a href="http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org/schooldrill/">explained the <em>Advocates</em></a>, “it is illegal in Colorado to idle a vehicle for more than 5 minutes within 1,000 feet of a school – but you can drill for oil and gas, spewing potentially toxic chemicals into the air, as long as you aren't closer than 350 feet.”</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/newsroom/newsreleases/Pages/health-impacts-of-fracking-emissions.aspx">University of Colorado School of Public Health study</a> published in March demonstrated the grave risks associated with spending most of one's time near fracking operations, as <a href="http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org/schooldrill/">explained by the <em>Advocates</em></a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People living within a half-mile of oil and gas fracking operations were exposed to air pollutants at a level that is five times higher than the federal hazard standard. Researchers found a number of potentially toxic chemicals in the air near the wells, including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene. The chemicals could lead to neurological or respiratory effects that include eye irritation, headaches, sore throat and difficulty breathing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These realities, at least thus far, haven't slowed the industry's gas rush nor have they served as a red flag for the Colorado government enabling these activities.</p>
<h3>
Fracking With “Reckless” Abandon, No Known Boundaries</h3>
<p>In an Oct. 15 press release, John Armstrong, Statewide Grassroots Coordinator at <em>Frack Action</em>, <a href="http://ecowatch.org/2012/fracking-is-reckless/">stated</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Fracking proponents continue their reckless and irresponsible push to frack even in the face of an overwhelming body of science showing that fracking poses serious risks to health and the environment and consensus among experts and government agencies that we need more scientific study on fracking. Our water, air and health are priceless.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given the state of play across the country for the gas industry, it's hard to disagree.</p>
<p><strong>Image Credit</strong>: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-427597p1.html">Pincasso</a> | <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=shale+gas&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=104729948&amp;src=cc6aa756dfd41385da97df3855b9de4c-1-1">ShutterStock</a></p>
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